Kansas City, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced on Thursday that both its cheer and dance national championships will be relocated in 2021 due to a scheduling conflict with the Eastern Michigan Convocation Center. The championships will move from Ypsilanti, Mich., to Davenport, Iowa and will be hosted by St. Ambrose University and Visit Quad Cities.
In a year of shuffling of schedules, the NAIA worked with St. Ambrose swiftly after it was determined that the previously announced host site was unable to accommodate the championships this year as the Eastern Michigan Convocation Center is being converted into a mass vaccination site.
"This has been a very difficult year to plan, so we want to thank the Ann Arbor Sports Commission for its efforts to make this happen," said Mike Higgins, NAIA Director of Championships. "We certainly appreciate all of their hard work, and also greatly appreciate former host St. Ambrose for picking-up the baton. We know they will do an outstanding job!"
St. Ambrose hosted the cheer and dance national championships in 2019 and were scheduled to do so in 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The partnership and positive relationship we have with the NAIA and St. Ambrose University is incredibly important to Visit Quad Cities and our regional destination," said Dave Herrell, President and CEO, Visit Quad Cities. "Serving and providing a host community solution for the NAIA Competitive Cheer and Dance Championships was paramount to demonstrating to the NAIA that the Quad Cities always stands ready to work them. It will be an honor to host some of the country's top student-athletes in a safe and responsible manner as they compete in the QC for this coveted championship event."
The NAIA Cheer and Dance National Championships are scheduled for March 12-13, 2021. Both championships will be held in Ypsilanti, Michigan and hosted by both the Ann Arbor Sports Commission and Concordia University (Mich.) in 2022.
CMU cheer will kick off competition season at the MNU Cheer Invitational on Friday, Feb. 5. Central's performance will take place virtually in Puckett Fieldhouse, with the performance time set for 5:40 p.m.
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